RED SOX NOTEBOOK: Back spasms KO Beckett

Come late September, aches and pain are part of any major league clubhouse, but when they belong to Josh Beckett, they quickly become a cause for concern.

Beckett was scratched from his scheduled start Monday night against the Blue Jays after manager Terry Francona and pitching coach John Farrell decided they didn’t want to risk Beckett aggravating lingering stiffness in the upper-left part of his back.

“It’s been there for awhile,” Francona said Monday afternoon. “We’ve all had it. When it happens, you want it to go away, but the harder you try … so we need to try to just rest it.”

Beckett, who was at the ballpark but unavailable for comment before the game, called Francona earlier in the day to inform him of his discomfort.

“On the plane last night (from New York), he tried to get comfortable with it and didn’t,” Francona said. “He thought he would wake up, take a hot shower and go about his business, but when that didn’t happen, he called me.”

Francona conferred with Farrell and agreed to have Michael Bowden take Beckett’s start.

“It wasn’t a real difficult decision to say this doesn’t make sense to us (to have Beckett pitch Monday night) and I think he kind of agreed,” Francona said.

“We’re going to let him get it worked on rather than trying to pitch through it, which he could have, but it just didn’t seem like today was the day to do it.”

Francona was uncertain whether Beckett will have to miss his next start with his final start of the regular season scheduled for Saturday against the Indians. Beckett’s mound status this week will depend on how his back responds to treatment.

“We’re going to try to turn a thing that was negative into a positive, whether it’s rest or not pitching him a couple days,” Francona said.

Beckett has turned in a career-high 2071/3 innings pitched already this season over 31 starts, going 16-6 with a 3.78 ERA. After struggling in August, the righthander has rebounded in September giving up three earned runs or less in each of his starts this month.

No setbacks for Lester:

Three days after taking a Melky Cabrera liner off his right knee at Yankee Stadium, Jon Lester threw a bullpen session Monday afternoon without any discomfort and pronounced himself ready to make his next scheduled start Thursday night against Cleveland.

“Yeah, I feel fine,” said Lester after his 55-pitch outing. “No problems with anything with the knee.”

Lester, who is 14-8 and projected to be Boston’s No. 1 starter for the first round of the postseason, admitted that he had some concerns before heading out to test his knee for the first time.

“I felt good this morning when I woke up, walking around and everything,” he said, “but there’s always that question in the back of your mind, ‘OK, when I get on the mound, is it going to bug me?’ It didn’t, so that was good.

“There’s no issues that I know of right now so everything should be fine.”

Francona, who confirmed that the plan is to keep Beckett on rotation, admitted that he feared the worst when Lester went down.

“It looked bad, it didn’t sound good and he was out there moaning,” Francona said. “Two days later, to know that he’s already been out in the bullpen throwing good, that’s a heck of a relief.. We don’t need to lose him.”

Lowell gets another shot:

Mike Lowell received another injection for his sore hip Monday as a precautionary measure for enabling him to play in the playoffs.

Francona said that Lowell brought up his hip when the team was in Kansas City last week, laying the groundwork for the third baseman to receive the injection when the Red Sox returned home.

“We both agreed that if he got an injection (Monday) and sits for a couple days, then he can come back and get some at-bats (before the playoffs),” Francona said.

Green light for Green:

Elsewhere on the Red Sox medical front, infielder Nick Green (bulging back disk) did some running “and tolertated it pretty well,” according to Francona. “He’s still fatigued pretty quickly.” Green hopes to get in a game by the end of the week. … With Beckett’s status uncertain, the Red Sox added left-handed pitcher Dustin Richardson from Pawtucket to the active roster and designated first baseman/outfielder Chris Carter for assignment. Richardson was on hand for the game and wore No. 54. … Fenway Park icon Johnny Pesky threw out/underhanded the ceremonial first pitch on his 90th birthday to a standing ovation.

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